La tour Montparnasse infernale

Die Hard, but instead of an ex-cop it's a couple of window cleaners. I'm French and was literally raised by this movie. It's one of the most iconic French comedies. It was innovative, extremely well written and overall just a gem in my opinion. Obviously you have to like Eric and Ramzy's comedy style, which is basically two absurdly stupid characters put in the middle of an otherwise very serious situation. One of the things that really get me with this movie is that it doesn't fall in the usual parody movie trap of having everything other than the comedy be eclipsed, or just bad. All the characters are great in their own ways, all of the writing is very sharp, the acting and cinematography are on point, the music is fantastic. That contrast between the two moronic main characters and the world they evolve in is really what does it for me. And it was made on a pretty tight budget.

But I guess the comedy doesn't translate well. Based on the reviews here, it seems like non-French people generally strongly dislike this ? If you're French and you haven't seen this film, what are ya doing. If you're not French, you should probably still give it a go if you like absurd comedies. But I personally don't like Dumb & Dumber that much, so maybe this type of thing just doesn't really cross the culture barrier.

Anyway I love it and it's one of the movies I've rewatched the most.

Oh man, I saw this movie by error when I was alone on a Saturday night! This is just amazing how stupid a movie can be... Seriously, this is the dumbest movie ever... BUT IT'S SO GOOD!

I saw it yesterday again at a party while everyone was drunk and it was even funnier... So, I recommend this to absolutely EVERYONE! But it you do NOT enjoy super comedy or that you don't speak French (Cause I'm not sure if there is a translation or anything, but anyway!) PLEASE BE DRUNK OR GONE BEFORE WATCHING THIS THING!

That was a serious warning!!! 9/10!!! And I'm not giving all movies this rating, I just simply enjoyed that movie THAT BAD!

A witless spoof of Die Hard, and other movies when it runs out of ideas, one of France's top 2001 box office draws feature the inexplicably popular TV comedy duo of Judor and Bedia, who have seemed to model themselves on the Dumb and Dumber sub-genre of comedy. The effect is rather like watching Norman Wisdom in the same film as Jerry Lewis while each tries to slow down and dilute his schtick to make the other look better. One excruciating routine has one of them repeatedly failing to notice as the other dirties the window he has just cleaned. The rather cute Foïs has her features fixed in an expression of contempt throughout, though it might be boredom, and Riaboukine is wasted in the Alan Rickman role. The hardware and production values are in fact pretty well matched to the Die Hard films (even the colour processing is the same), but it only makes one long all the more for someone to either shoot or defenestrate these two cretins and put us out of our misery. In brief, this one definitely does not travel.

"Dis 'Hard'" was what the posters for this movie read, a "clever" french play on the American film "Die Hard". La Tour Montparnasse is a blatant spoof of "Die Hard" by the two incredibly popular French comedians, Eric and Ramzy. I'm not sure there is an American equivalent to these guys, but Martin Lawrence comes to mind. Eric and Ramzy combine to create the "mis-matched" comedy pair: one tall, the other short, one loud, the other shy. Although this pairing has been done over and over and over again, Eric and Ramzy are good natured and playful and are enjoyable to watch.

The film, on the other hand, isn't so easy to watch. La Tour Montparnasse is the sole "skyscraper" in Paris, the natural setting for a French "Die Hard" knockoff. The movie starts off with Eric and Ramzy playing window washers on the side of the building. They are wasting time spitting off the building and trying to flirt with the women inside the building. Within 3 minutes of this movie, you have a rough idea of the intelligence behind it. It is dumb. It is childish. It has pretty low production value. But, there are some decent gags.

The scenes I thought were quite funny was a matrix spoof (yes, it's pretty topical humor) and an incredible spoof of Bruce Lee's "Game of Death." This joke probably flies by most of the audience (I think I was the only one laughing in the theater) but it is hilarious. There is also a decent "Speed" spoof at the very end of the film.

The negatives to the film? It is pretty dang homophobic. Apparently in France it is still okay to have homophobia in the films, but I found it a little jarring. There is a constant banter between Eric and Ramzy about "gayness." The production values for the film are also quite low, but considering comedies usually aren't huge budget blockbusters anyway, it's not such a huge deal. Maybe the most blatant problem is the film's tendency to act like "Scary Movie": it comes off as a series of gags with no real connection between them. The plot is thiiiiiiin and it serves only to bridge the gags or spoofs in the film.

Overall, I would give the film a middle of the road 5. It's not great, it's not terrible, and any Bruce Lee fan should definately watch the great spoof near the last half hour of the film.

I say "mostly" because there are some chuckles here and there (the Chinese Bruce Lee - wannabe and his demise). On the whole, however, this is strictly for fans of the Eric and Ramzy comic duo. In case you've never heard of them (this is only their second film I have watched myself), let me give you an idea of what to expect: take Abbott and Costello, drop their intellectual level by about 5 notches, and you get Eric and Ramzy. Of course, dumb characters have been the source of comedy since the beginning of the genre, but these two often cross the line from mere dumbness to mental retardation. And what's worse, even other characters who behave smartly most of the time suddenly go dumb at crucial moments (for example, near the end, Marina Foïs should have realized much earlier that they have replaced the real helicopter pilots). So: Eric and Ramzy fans will probably love it, tough going for anyone else; action fans can at least be rewarded with a few nice explosions. (**)